Romeo & Juliet Get Married (review)

It’s one joke that goes on way too long: these modern-day starcrossed lovers (Luana Piovani and Marco Ricca) are Brazilians separated by an insurmountable divide: they are fans of rival soccer teams. It’s genetic, apparently; children inherit the fandom of their parents, so of course their families are mortal enemies. It’s probably a foreign thing, the humor about how parents will disavow their offspring who marry across football lines — perhaps this is wacky fun in South America or anywhere that is mad for the sport. But even I, who hail from the land of generational Yankees-versus-Mets contention, found this a tedious extrapolation of the already typically tedious genre of romantic comedy. What’s worse, the title gives away the ending: it’s not like Romeo and Juliet get married in Act One and then have to deal with the ramifications of that throughout the rest of the movie. No: this is pretty much exactly Shakespeare’s story, except with soccer hooliganism instead of murder. Extras include commentary by director Bruno Barreto and the cast (it’s subtitled), making-of featurette, cast and crew interviews, and more. [buy at Amazon]